After small break the action returns this week and we have a packed few weeks left in October.

October 13thRyo Takenaka (14-3-1, 8) vs Randy Braga (19-1-1, 5)Attention turns back to Tokyo this week as we get the chance to see Ryo Takenaka defend the OPBF Featherweight title against once beaten Filipino Randy Braga. On paper this is a step up for Braga, but the Filipino has been impressive and is unlucky to have a loss against his name, with that coming by controversial decision on foreign soil. For the champion this is a second defense and whilst he will be favoured he is returning from a hand injury and may be suffering the effects of the damage, as well as a bit of ring rust.

Masataka Taniguchi (4-0, 4) vs Dexter Alimento (11-0, 7)On the same card in Tokyo we get a bout that has us more than justa little bit excited as the unbeaten pairing of Masataka Taniguchi and Dexter Alimento face off. Taniguchi has impressed since his debut and looks like an exciting, aggressive and powerful young fighter racing through the ranks but is stepping up massively here. Alimento scored his break out win earlier this year, when he defeated Chanachai CP Freshmart for the WBC Youth Minimumweight title and really impressed with his skills, defense and counter punching, which could all be a nightmare for someone as aggressive as Taniguchi. This really is mouth watering.

October 17thShintaro Matsumoto (13-4, 9) Vs Jayde Michell (9-1, 4)For the second time in less than a week we get OPBF title action as Super Middleweight champion Shintaro Matsumoto looks to make the first defense of his title and over-come Australian Jayde Mitchell in what should be a really intriguing match up. Matsumoto is a rather weak champion but shocked the Oriental scene earlier this year by over-coming Yuzo Kiyota and will be looking to prove he deserves the title. For Mitchell the bout is a great chance to claim a major regional title, but does seem him needing to make his international debut.

​October 22ndStrongest KorakuenOn October 22nd we see the “Strongest Korakuen” with 4 bouts to decide 4 of the mandatory challengers for Japanese titles. Whilst each of the bouts are significant one of them, a Super Bantamweight bout between veteran Jonathan Baat (32-7-5, 14) and heavy handed new comer Yusaku Kuga (12-2-1, 8). The show is a significant one and will see mandatory challengers at Light Flyweight, Super Bantamweight, Super Featherweight and Light Welterweight all being decided in what should be a thrilling and important show for Japanese fans.

October 25thTakuya Kogawa (27-4, 13) Vs Yudai Arai (8-3-3, 4)Japanese Flyweight champion Takuya Kogawa returns in the final week of the month to defend his title, for the fourth time, as he takes on the little known Yudai Arai. We love Kogawa, he's one of the most exciting fighters on the planet, but he always makes life difficult and always gets involved in a war, even when he doesn't need to. We think that'll be the case again here and although we don't think he'll struggle to beat Arai we'd be surprised if the fight didn't end up being a typical Kogawa tear up. And who doesn't like watching a tear up?

October 29thKanat Islam (21-0, 18) vs Patrick Allotey (34-2, 28)In a bout for multiple titles we'll see Kazakh hopeful Kanat Islam battle against Ghana's Patrick Allotey. Originally this bout was pencilled to be for the WBA interim title at 154lbs but instead it'll just be for 3 secondary titles, form the WBA, WBO and IBO. The bout will see Islam face one of his most notable foes to date and should see him being given a chance to answer some questions about his ability, whilst also making his Kazakh debut. Allotey is ona 4 fight winnign streak coming into this, but Islam will be strongly backed.

Zhankhozh Turarov (19-0, 13) vs Isaac Aryee (24-8, 22)Promising Kazakh Zhankhozh Turarov looks to continue his winning run as he takes on heavy handed slugger Isaac Aryee. This is going to be Turarov's toughest bout, at least on paper, but Ayree is 0-3 away from Ghana and has shown little to show he can travel without struggling. Despite lacking a win on the road Aryee is a puncher and could well be a threat if Turarov is lacking in terms of a chin.

Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (0-0) Vs Milton Nunez (33-16-1, 29)Also in Kazakhstan we'll see the professional debut of Zhanibek Alimkhanuly as he begins his campaign as a professional fighter. The 2016 Olympian is diving in at the deep end here against the hugely experienced and heavy handed Nunez, who has faced the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Sergio Mora and Matt Korobov. Sadly for Nunez he has been beaten by every recognisable opponent that he's faced so far.

The month of August appears to have dragged on and on though it has given us a lot to talk about with several FOTY contenders, several notable upsets and a generally fantastic series of fights. For those who missed some of them, this is our review of the month with some videos included of the months most memorable and exciting fights.

On August 2nd we had the first of the months many exciting battles as Takahiro Yamamoto (16-4, 13) avenged his split decision loss to Yu Kawaguchi (23-7, 10) and claimed the OPBF Bantamweight title. The bout saw both men being dropped before Kawaguchi was eventually stopped in the 7th round of a truly wonderful war. Sadly, this bout, like many this month, was untelevised with only ringside footage being recorded.

Later that same day Filipino veteran Dennis Laurente (49-6-5, 30) was eliminated from the 4 man WBA Light Middleweight tournament, losing a wide decision to the fearsome John Jackson (20-2, 15). Despite the loss the tough Pinoy managed to continue his impressive record of never being stopped and may well have booked himself future bouts based just on his toughness.

On the same day fans had a wonderful double-header at the Korakuen Hall, a double-header that was streamed online for free.

The Nishida/Fuchigami fight was great but it was over-shadowed by the excellent co-feature that saw Yasutaka Ishimoto (26-8, 7) narrowly out-point Gakuya Furuhashi (17-6-1, 7). This was essentially a Japanese Super Bantamweight title eliminator and although it was over-looked by many it did, essentially, provide a Japanese FOTY contender as the two men put on an excellent high paced fight that showed both men showing solid boxing skills. Although it was an exciting action fight neither man resulted to brawling and as a result we ended with a highly skilled war that both men should be proud of.

The second of the title bouts saw the really promising Masayuki Ito (17-1-1, 8) claim the OPBF Super Featherweight title as he scored a 10th round TKO win against Dai Iwai (17-4-1, 6). Iwai seemed to be out classed from the opening stages by the talented Ito who eventually forced the referee to step in when Iwai was a bloody mess. The win for Ito came just months after he was narrowly beaten by Rikki Naito in a Japanese title fight and it now seems clear just how talented the once beaten 24 year old is.

On the same card, albeit in a support bout, fans saw Ken Shiro (4-0, 3) score a 4th round TKO against Takeshi Omae (13-5-5, 1) and it now looks almost certain that Ken Shiro will get a title fight before the year is out. The 23 year old is quickly becoming one of the men to watch in the lower weights and we'd be shocked not to see him make a mark on the upper echelons of the division in the near future.

When it comes to the fight of the month, that was an easy one with the August 21st war between Masao Nakamura (20-3, 19) and Daiki Kaneko (21-5-3, 14). The fight, that was won by Nakamura, was one of the most sensational fights of the year and saw the two men combine boxing and brawling to create a fight that took on a life of it's own. The only problem was that the TV cameras again missed the action and we unfortunately had to rely on ringside footage, though thankfully the quality of the footage was more than good enough to enjoy the fight.

On August 22nd there were a couple of things of note. The first of those came from the Philippines where Renz Rosia (12-3, 6) scored a TKO win over Renan Trongco (17-5, 10) to claim the WBC International Flyweight title. Coming into this bout Trongco was ranked #4 by the WBC so his ranking will drop significantly, though we're unsure how highly Rosia will end up.

On August 7th we had a notable bout in Thailand as veteran Bantamweight Pungluang Sor Singyu (51-3, 35) became a 2-time WBO Bantamweight champion. The aggressive and exciting Pungluang scored a shock 2nd round KO against Japan's Ryo Akaho (26-2-2, 18) to claim the title and although Akaho may have some complaints about the stoppage it did seem like he was being bullied by the Thai who looked the much stronger man in the ring.

Just a day later, on August 8th, Japanese fans saw OPBF and Japanese Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (26-8-1, 12) retain his titles with an 8th round TKO win against Yasuyuki Akiyama (10-5-1, 8). This was really a mismatch from the off and Akiyama had nothing to trouble the talented Shibata, who has now won 6 in a row since being stopped by Ryota Murata. This win has set Shibata up for an exciting looking showdown with Koki Tyson Maebara.

On August 10th we had another double-header, this time with a pair of OPBF title fights.

The first of those ended with Ryo Takenaka (13-3-1, 7) scoring a KO of the year contender against the defending OPBF Featherweight champion Vinvin Rufino (37-17-3, 16). Rufino was defending the title for the first time but never managed to get into the fight following an early knockdown. The title changed hands in round 5 when Rufino was knocked out cold by the challenger. For Rufino this will feel like a redeeming win considering he almost won the title last year, suffering a 12th round TKO loss, whilst in the lead, against Hisashi Amagasa.

Staying with Thailand we got controversy on August 18th when former world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (85-2, 54) narrowly out-pointed Mohamed Larabi (4-5, 2) in a bout that saw the visitor express his disgust at the decision whilst still in the ring. In the past we've seen visitors shrug about losing decisions in Thailand but Larabi really made his feelings known and with good cause as he seemed to do more than enough to deserve a very clear win.

On the same card as Hosono's win over Otsubo fans saw Ryo Matsumoto (15-0, 13) and Akira Yaegashi (22-5, 12) score wins and direct their attention to world title fights, with hoping to land a top level fight by the end of the year.

August 28th we saw one of the biggest upsets of the year as former world title challenger Pigmy Kokietgym (57-8-2, 23), who was ranked #1 by the WBO at Minimumweight, was stopped by unheralded Filipino Jaysever Abcede (10-3, 6). Coming in to the bout Pigmy was, supposedly, set to fight WBO world champion Kosei Tanaka though Abcede certainly but a halt on that bout with one of the sweetest right hooks of the year.

Although the world level action was sparse we've still managed to have a brilliant month with a bit of everything and the month, whilst not the best, certainly was one to look back on and saviour as an Asian boxing fan.

Also we suspect we may have missed some of the best moments. If we have then please leave a comment telling us about the best bits of the month that we forgot!

Thinking Out East

With this site being pretty successful so far we've decided to open up about our own views and start what could be considered effectively an editorial style opinion column dubbed "Thinking Out East" (T.O.E).

T.O.E is just a collection of our thoughts, rambles and general things related to boxing in the East.